So I have the tech, but how do I FLIP my classroom?

Even if you don't have a device for every student in your classroom, this is still a great question! There's a lot of information out there about "flipping" classrooms. (You can find some great information HERE, HERE, HERE, or, well, HERE.)

Regardless of the amount of technology to which you may have access, the question I'd like to help answer here is this: How do I begin to "flip" my classroom and, in turn, manage my students throughout the process?

Here's an example of what the physical space of a "flipped" classroom might look like...

(This interactive image was made using ThingLink, which is a great tool for students to use when creating projects to demonstrate and share their understanding of concepts.)

Apps/Websites for Screencasting...

Explain Everything™ Interactive Whiteboard | Animate your thinking
Educreations
Doceri - The Interactive Whiteboard for iPad.
Screen Video Recording - Screencastify
The easy way to make a video and edit a video | Videolicious
Screencast-O-Matic

If you don't want to reinvent the wheel, there are MILLIONS (I may be exaggerating, maybe not) of videos out there already that you can provide for students instead of making your own...

Educational Videos, Free Kids Videos and Technology | TeacherTube
LearnZillion

Welcome to Discovery Education | Digital textbooks and standards-aligned educational resources

YouTube. Seriously, YouTube. You can find some very useful video out there. The trick is sharing the videos with your students in way that doesn't allow them to fall into the "Up Next" or "Suggested Videos" wormhole...

This video was made in Chrome using Screencastify, one of the tools listed above.

If you don't have a way to embed video, you can provide a safe link to any YouTube video using SafeShare.TV

Apps/Websites for creating interactive videos...

A sample LMS: Schoology

Other Learner Management Systems...

Edmodo | Connect With Students and Parents in Your Paperless Classroom
Moodle - Open-source learning platform | Moodle.org
Blackboard for K-12

Advanced Management Software Example: Casper Focus

Here's another piece of management software that will also work with Android and other tablets.

HOWEVER, the best classroom management with technology is low-tech...

Take the time during class to stop work and do informal check-ins. Have students share progress with each other and the class. You might also have students keep a journal during projects in which they write briefly each day about what was accomplished, and what are their next steps. 

A potential flipped day of Social Studies...

• Students read a section of their Social Studies text about types of governments for the previous night's homework.
• To begin the class period, students watch a short video on their devices within Schoology from Discovery Streaming that also focuses on types of government. A few questions are embedded using EdPuzzle for comprehension purposes.

• While most students are watching the video, the teacher can pull individual students to conference. This could be students that are lower readers to discuss the reading from the night before, or catch up students that may have been absent.

• Once students are finished watching the video, they move around the room and continue work on country culture projects. Today, they are focused on adding details about the type of government their countries have, and how it might impact daily life. During this time, the teacher continues to conference with individuals or small groups to discuss project progress.

Using Weebly to Showcase Work

My students completed awesome, authentic learning tasks digitally! Seriously, they're great! But where do I put them???

As technology becomes more prevalent, and schools continue to push toward one-to-one, this question has become one of the more frustrating for teachers. Students are expected to utilize apps and Web 2.0 tools to highlight and demonstrate their abilities in ways never before possible. They are creating videos and presentations to showcase their understanding of content indicators, which provide wonderful evidence for teachers that need to determine whether or not a student has mastered those indicators, and to what degree. However, digital age learners must also share their work, as well as collaborate with and/or critique the work of others. But what is the best platform to accomplish this goal? For the purpose of this post, I'm going to focus on the sharing aspect of this goal using Weebly. 

What is Weebly?

Weebly is a drag and drop website builder, as well as a web-hosting service that houses the websites that are created there. Check out more detail ---------> HERE!

What can you share?

Almost anything! Weebly allows you to share everything from simple text to images to videos (both linked and embedded), within a single page, or across multiple pages. Weebly also syncs nicely with Google Drive, so students can easily share Docs and Presentations from their Drive work with a few clicks. Below are snapshots of the various elements that can be added to a Weebly website. (It is important to note that all of the elements shown here are available to add using a computer. The Weebly app has 15 of the 29 options available, which are circled.)

How easy is it?

As easy as drag and drop, with a few clicks or copy and paste! Simply pick the element that you would like to add to the site, drag that element onto the page, and add the content you like within that element.

Why use it? 

When students create documents, screencasts, videos, or any other type of media, it is important for them to share their work with an authentic audience. With Weebly, students are actually creating a website that can be viewed by anyone that has the link. One might consider it a "one stop shop" for sharing digital projects. The simplicity of the tool (especially the app) makes it very student friendly. The benefit of this tool would be that it takes very little time to actually teach, and students can begin using it immediately. 

Potential Problems...

The trickiest part of using Weebly to share student work is that the work itself will need to be converted into a format that can be shared on the website. For example, students that create a project using Book Creator, iMovie, or a screen-casting tool like Doceri will need to convert the project itself into a YouTube video in order to share it on Weebly. Fortunately, most apps offer quick conversions that can be completed with a few taps. 

Digital Citizenship and Responsibility: Finding Quality Sources

Making Careful Searches and Finding Quality Sources on the Web

With the increased availability of technology, movement up the SAMR model, and growth of Project Based Learning, finding quality information from reliable sources in an efficient manner on the internet has become a crucial skill. 

Anyone can complete a Google search, but can you search efficiently to quickly narrow down the results to only the information that is needed? Even if the search is narrow, can you differentiate between the good information and the bad?

Check out this link from Common Sense Media about crafting a careful search, and double checking what seems like reliable information...

Solomon's Story

Here's a video about quickly determining the credibility of a website based on the domain...

Kathy Schrock has many resources for evaluating websites and search results. Below are the 5 W's of Website Evaluation...

Lesson examples for teaching Search Skills...

Critical Thinking to find Trustworthy Websites

Improving Research Skills with Effective Keywords

My Personal Learning Network (PLN)

The idea of a Personal Learning Network (PLN) is one that I would consider personally under development. There are many social media tools that I am currently using to better communicate with the parents and families of my students. However, I am merely beginning to scratch the surface of using these tools to further my personal, professional growth and development. Here are the ways in which I am currently growing my PLN through the use of web-based technology...

Twitter

I am currently using Twitter primarily as a tool to communicate with parents and families. I also follow a great number of my colleagues and professional resources, and have gained a number of ideas for classroom activities the integrate technology from them.  

Tweets by @NorthHillsMrW

Facebook

Much like Twitter, my Facebook account is primarily used to communicate with parents and families. Currently, it is also married to my Twitter account (as well as our class Instagram account), so the two tools work in conjunction to share information. I had never considered using Facebook as a way to grow my PLN, but this is definitely something I will experiment with. Currently, I use the "Page" feature to share information about my class. This gives my the option to use the "Profile" side of Facebook to friend other professionals and grow my PLN.

Flipboard

This is a newer resource that I primarily use on my iPad and mobile device. With Flipboard, I can decide specifically what news topics to follow, and the app sorts the news and delivers only the content I tell it to. Professionally, the topics I have Flipboard deliver to me include Education, Educational Leadership, Education Technology, and Math and Science Education. This helps me stay current with wants trending in all of these areas. 

 

Pinterest

I was reluctant to use Pinterest at all, mostly because my perception of the social media tool was that it was only used for sharing recipes and selling handbags. However, the platform has evolved into a social media tool in which anything and everything is shared about, and there is no primary audience. Expanding my use of Pinterest to gather educational ideas is a goal of mine. 

Schoology

Schoology is a resource that can be used as a teacher to run a class, as well as grow professionally by connecting with others. When creating a Schoology account, there is the option to enroll in professional development courses, as well as connect with other coworkers to share common resources. Groups of connected colleagues have the ability to share common resources that can be shared across courses and used by all students. There is also the option to simply network with teachers from anywhere in the world to collect ideas and grow professionally.

Diigo/Symbaloo

These tools allow the user to bookmark web resources in very specific ways for easy access and organization. With Diigo, the user can even annotate information that is found, and save those annotations to be accessed later. Both allow the user to take his or her bookmarked resources anywhere, as they are web or cloud-based. These tools work well with social media tools like Facebook and Twitter. If a web resource is shared on one of those platforms, it can be assessed, noted, and than saved an organized using Diigo or Symbaloo.

What is a One-to-World classroom?