Stream Teaching: Part 2-- Our First Day

Today was the day.  We had a few dry runs last week to figure out some technology issues.  We figured we had as much figured out as we could, and we needed to give it a go for real.  David and I planned to do a lesson where the students would work in groups to create a list of characteristics they believed would be used to describe More Developed Countries (MDCs), Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs), and Less Developed Countries (LDCs).  We figured this would be a great way to have the class interact with each other in a non-threatening way because neither group had been exposed to these concepts in class.  This activity was created as a type of pre-assessment for the class.

We don't have exactly the same bell schedule, so that will definitely pose a few issues as we move forward in the year, but I figured a way to get my students working on something for the 5 minutes before David's day began.  Once his class started, we got going with the lesson.  The students were in groups on their respective campuses figuring out what qualities they believed would be used for MDCs, NICs, and LDCs.  After 5 minutes, we came back as a whole class to discuss it.  Both David and I were at the board collecting the answers from both campuses.  I would have my groups share out for the students at Jones to hear, and we would write the answers on the board.  David would have his students then share out what they had come up with for the qualities of the types of countries.

There are still some kinks to figure out (sound being the biggest one to overcome), but I can not even begin to say how happy I was with the overall lesson and set up.  I am even more excited now about the future of the program.  I know there will be days that I will say it was a complete disaster, but that happens in my classroom sometimes as well.

We've scheduled our next session for Friday.  I will be updating the blog after every installment (well, at least that's my goal here).

Until next time...

Stewart

Student Created Augmented Reality Target

I love augmented reality and using it in the classroom.  I've had students create before using various platforms, but I wanted my students to start creating with DAQRI's 4D studio.  I had them create their own DAQRI 4D studio accounts, scheduled time in the media center, and let them create.  It was a hard task to start because the creation studio was more difficult for them to learn than I expected.  But most got the tool much quicker than many of the teachers I've worked with before, which didn't surprise me at all.

As I circulated throughout the computer lab, I notice the students were talking about what they were going to do to make their experience more interesting and exciting.  It was great because they were searching for the best way to describe and show popular vs. folk culture.  They knew these would be posted around campus, and the other students would be able to look at it.  Knowing this made some of them even more engaged in the activity.

We were in the lab for 3 days.  At the beginning of the 3rd day, I had the students publish their experiences so they could see what they had done so far.  In all of my classes, it got a rowdy when they viewed their experiences for the first time!  They were so proud of their work.  They were calling their friends over to see what they made.  It was awesome!

Here are just a few of the targets the students created.  I can't wait to see what they will do with this throughout the year.  I'm excited about the potential!  If you are considering using 4D studio with your students, please do!  It is a project they will be excited about creating and showing to their friends and family.

*** To view these, download the DAQRI app (it's free) and then scan the images.  You can do it on the computer to see them.  There is no need to print them out.***

Augmented Reality Takes Over Winter Park

September 24-26 were some pretty amazing days at the Winter Park 9th Grade Center!  Brad Waid and Drew Minock were on campus training the entire faculty on augmented reality and using DAQRI in the classroom.  I cannot say how impressed I was with the faculty.  We are a great group of teachers, but technology forward group really isn't something I would use to describe us.  Brad and Drew did a great job with an overview of what DAQRI and augmented reality is, so the faculty was ready to come back the next day to create DAQRI lessons.  Some of the teachers have shared what they created during our training sessions.  Here are some of the things that have been created and already used in the classrooms at Winter Park's 9th Grade Center!

This is a map I created for my World Cultural Geography classes.  Every unit, we look at maps to learn about the region.  Prior to creating this map, the students would each have a transparency to overlay on a base map.  The problem came that I lost base maps, the transparencies would smudge, and students could read them anymore, and I students would only be able to work on this activity in my classroom.  Now, all of those issues have been resolved with DAQRI.  Check it out!

An English teacher created this map for his students while they read The Odyssey during the 3 hour training in the morning and then used it in his class that afternoon.  It's impressive!

One of the Biology teachers was uncertain about using the technology in her classroom and taking the time to create it.  She make this experience of the cell.  It is quite impressive.  She was very excited to show Brad, Drew and I on Friday.  She even took time at Open House to talk with the parents about it.  I'd say she sees the power augmented reality!

The Physical Education teachers decided they wanted to make a target to hang in the weight room for the students to know how to properly use the machines and what exercises they could do to strengthen specific muscles.  This will allow the student to stay active even if they've never used the equipment before because they now have video of a professional using the same equipment they have in the weight room.

One more of mine... this is the lesson that started me on my augmented reality pathway.  I have the students analyze population pyramids and discuss what's happening in the country.  Using DAQRI, I took it to a new level.  My students loved this lesson this year, and many of them picked the wrong answer just to get the response they get when wrong.  This is just one pyramid, there were 10 of them throughout the classroom.

I hope this inspires others to start using DAQRI 4D Studio.  It is a great tool to enhance learning in the classroom.

Stewart

The #2Guys Show Visit Winter Park High School

I can remember the first time I ever heard about Augmented Reality in the classroom.  I had just started following Brad Waid and Drew Minoch on twitter and saw they were starting their 2 Guys Show.  I was watching it on my planning period the day after it aired.  They were demonstrating different augmented reality tools.  I was in awe during the entire show.  I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  I thought, "This is radically going to change things!"  Little did I know how much I was right.  I decided right then and there that I was going to do this for one of my upcoming lessons.  I blogged about my lesson before, so I won't go into detail about it, but it was AMAZING!!!!

I started telling everyone on campus about it.  I augmented the Homecoming shirt for the student council.  I worked with the media specialist to do augmented book talks.  After I gave a presentation to the faculty in the spring, an English teacher and I worked together to create an amazing lesson about Shakespearean humor.  The excitement spread!  I stayed in touch with Brad and Drew.  I met them at FETC in January.  Then, one fateful day, Brad and I had a Google Hangout (during a lightning delay at school... yes that's a real thing), and he proposed that my school be one of the flagship schools for DAQRI.  I was thrilled.  I told my principal, and he was on board from the beginning.  I've been waiting for this day since May.  Tomorrow is the day.  I cannot tell you how excited I am to host Brad on Drew and be one of their flagship schools!

It's pretty awesome to be part of something big!  I'm not sure if the rest of the faculty is ready for what's about to happen at our school.  Students will be creating augmented reality, they will be engaged in learning, and classes won't seem so boring to them.  I know this for a fact.  I've used augmented reality with my AP and non-AP geography classes, and both are blown away with the technology.  I know this excitement will carry over to other subjects.

In less than 24 hours, the #2guys will be in Florida!   It's going to be an awesome 3 days.

I'll definitely post what went on after they leave.  I know it's going to be mind blowing!

I'm so excited for this year!

I'm totally excited about this coming year.  I'm starting my 13th year, and I can say I haven't been this excited about what the year will bring in a long time.  I'm adding some pretty exciting things to my class.

1.  Gamification

For the past 9 years, I've been teaching World Cultural Geography, a non-AP geography class.  I've struggled many times each year to find a way to make it meaningful to the students.  It is hard to get my 9th graders to find interest in some of the content.  Well, after spending some time researching gamification, talking with Tom Driscoll through Twitter and phone, I've decided to take the jump and gamify my World Cultural class.  We are going to be members of the WIA (Wildcat Intelligence Agency) working our way throughout the world as an elite group of operatives, helping to solve many of the crises in various countries and regions.  I'm super excited about the potential this will have for my class.  Hopefully, it will energize me as well.  I teach just one prep of this class, so I need something to make me want to be better for them.  I will be continually updating my blog with the successes and failures of this project.

2.  Augmented Reality

I started using this last year in both of my geography classes, and I LOVE the excitement it creates in the room.  I'm very excited that I get to work closely this year with Brad Waid and Drew Minoch , of #2guys fame, as they transition to their roles at DAQRI.  I've created a few things that we will be using at the beginning of the year to try and get the students excited as well.  I envision many of the challenges from the gamification will be delivered to the teams via AR.  As the school begins to incorporate this more and more into each classroom, I am very excited about the possibilities.  I'm excited our science classes will be using the element cubes and the Anatomy 4D programs as well.  I can't wait for their visit in September to get the faculty on board and excited as much as I am.

School starts on Monday.  I can't wait for it to come.  I'll keep you posted on the successes and trials throughout the year.

Why is there so much resistance?

Last month, we held our annual Curriculum Celebration.  Working with the Curriculum Resource Teacher, I suggested that we use it as a time to focus the faculty on educational technology.  I teach at a school where many seem focused on not letting technology become a part of the culture.  You go to meetings and hear all the excuses why we shouldn't bring tech into the classroom ranging from not every kid has a device to it is way to distracting for the students.  There is even a teacher that has a basket in front of his class and expects all the students to place their phones or devices so they don't use them at all in the classroom.

How do you work to encourage the use of technology more in the classrooms?  After using it in my classroom frequently, I know the benefit it has in making the classroom more engaging.  Now, this isn't to say that there are days where I still do a lesson without technology.  I am just tired of meeting resistance from the classroom and the administrators about the use of technology in the classroom.  My school is slipping further and further behind so many schools in the area and state because so many refuse to even try to see the importance of technology in the world outside the classroom. We used to be a leader in the district, but we are from it now!

So, if you're facing a school full of resistance like I am, here's my advice to you.  Stay the course with your integration of technology.  I have found I get more teachers on my side when I invite them into my classroom to see how a specific technology is being used.  This shows them how they can use it in their classroom as well.  Sometimes it is hard to sit at a training or read an article about technology and bring it to life in your classroom.  After inviting people a few times to my classroom to see Augmented Reality in use, one of our English teachers decided she would try it out in her classroom and created an amazing lesson for her Shakespeare unit that everyone else in the department loved so much, they used it as well.  I have now won over the English department.  Slowly, but surely, I know I'll have a majority of teachers on the side of technology that the others will feel alone in their complaints.

Be prepared to have a lot of questions from teachers as they start using various technology in their classroom.  I welcome the questions because it means they are trying to use it.

Hopefully, that will happen soon, for the sake of our students!

My First Experience with Augmented Reality

  I was relatively new to Twitter.  I was trying to build my PLN to see the effectiveness of the tool.  I found two guys, Brad Waid and Drew Minoch.  They have a blog, 2 Guys and Some iPads.  I started looking around there, watching their web show (which is awesome!), and I quickly learned about Augmented Reality, specifically Aurasma.  Seeing this in action on the episode made me think, "How can I use this in my high school geography classroom?" So, I decided to give it a try.

  There was a lesson that I've done a few times dealing with Population Pyramids where the students analyze a pyramid to determine what is going on in a country based on the size and the shape.  In the past, I've had the students analyze the pyramid and then come to me and see if they were correct.  This is a great activity, but it lead to a lot of standing/waiting time while I discussed with the students about their answers.  There would be times that there were 5 or more students standing in line waiting for me, which meant they weren't working. So, I decided to augment the lesson.

  It took a while for me to get used to the whole process, but by the end of the preparation, it was so much easier!  There were 10 pyramids they were to analyze.  I wish I had a picture of my students faces the first time they saw the purple swirl appear on their smart phones and then the video pop up describing what they saw in the pyramid.  I still remember the shocked looks and the cries of "WOW!!!"  and "THAT'S AWESOME!!!!"  This is definitely something I knew I had to use more than once in my classroom.  After they all got to working, the room was full of a great excitement.  I was now free to walk around and talk with each pair independently.  This allowed me more time with the work with students that didn't understand what one of the pyramids was telling them about the country.

  After my first AR experience, I was a total believer.  It made me want to learn more and more about a variety of EdTech out there.  It inspired me to be a better teacher and to integrate more technology into my classroom.  Just trying this has made me a totally different teacher...

for the better.

So, if you haven't tried or even heard of Augmented Reality, give it a try.  You'll become a huge fan just like me!

I'm not a EdTechie, but trying my best

I think the biggest issue teachers face when looking at technology is they feel inadequate.  Believe me, I know the feeling.  Every time I turn around, there are new apps to do this or a new program that does that. It is daunting to cull through all of these when you don't feel like a major techie at all (heck, its more daunting for us novice techies!).  Over the summer, I was asked to help write the "digital curriculum" for my course for the district.  It is the desire of the district to move completely digital in a few years. I was asked, not because I am super amazing with technology and can give some amazing ideas of how to incorporate it into a classroom effectively, but because I was the "content expert".  I must admit, what I did was far from stellar. Well, that few weeks looking over a variety of internet sites got me totally interested in radically changing my classroom. So, this year, I decided to start slowly integrating some digital curriculum pieces to see how they work.  Here is what I've learned so far.

1.  You don't have to be an expert in everything to move towards a digital classroom.

Like I already said, I am in no way a technie.  You can talk with my brother about hardware and software, and he'll understand most everything you're saying.  I'm not even sure I totally understand the difference between RAM and ROM.  However, that doesn't stop me from finding things and trying things with my students.  I'm not an expert, but there is definitely someone who is, so find them and beg, borrow and steal as much as you.  There are some pretty amazing educators who use tech in their classrooms every day that I only wish I could be like.

2.  The students are experts in the technology truly relevant to them.  Let them show you.

This is what I love the most.  I tell the students often that I do not know or understand all of the apps and websites and things that they spend a good portion of their live fixed on.  I like that I can let them explore and try new things with whatever they want to use.  Often times, I even ask them, "Hey, this is what I want to do, what are some ways I can do that?"  That empowers them.  My students know that I will never declare I am the only expert in the classroom, and that I often admit that I am not an expert about a lot things.  Giving them the chance to use what they want the way they want to get the information across empowers them in ways they've never been empowered before in a classroom.

3.  Try new things.  Even if they don't work, you will find something else that will work better.

I had a great idea of having my students work on a world religions project using Prezi.  The students were in groups covering different religions.  I thought that we could create a Prezi that every student in the classroom would access.  We were in the computer lab.  The students were working, but the more stuff they put on the Prezi, the more it crashed.  Students would hit the wrong undo button and clear whatever was done in the last few minutes.  It was a DISASTER!  The students were frustrated, I was frustrated, and I feel that the purpose of the lesson was lost.  It was unfortunate, but now I know a few things that I didn't know.  Yes, you can crash Prezi!  Yes, just because it is technology doesn't mean the students will love the lesson.  Yes, it is ok to admit you made a mistake in curricular design and the students won't think you're the worst teacher ever.  It has now become a running joke with my classes this that when we doing something using the computers.  Every period, they are begging, "Please, don't let is be another Prezi!!!!!"

4.  Don't just take an old worksheet, post it on a website and call it using technology.

The students can see right through that.  It is a start, but please don't think that is moving into the 21st century and using technology in an appropriate way.  I have to confess, this is mostly what I did for the "digital curriculum" for my district.  It is embarrassing now looking back and seeing what I came up with.

So, hopefully this can help.  I will be posting periodically about my journey into the tech world.  It is a scary place to be, but it is really exciting!  Thanks for joining me on my journey.

To Flip or Not To Flip?

To Flip of Not to Flip? So, I've been doing a lot of thinking about the "Flipped Classroom". I LOVE it! I've done it a few times in my classes, and I think it has worked out amazingly well. I don't do it for every lesson, but I choose the ones that are the most difficult for the students to comprehend and do it then. The problem I have is I see other using "the flip" in very ineffective ways, and it is really upsetting. I don't know how to address them in a way that would be constructive and non-threatening. For instance, there's a teacher that claims to be flipping her class. Her students go home and take notes on a PowerPoint. They come back to class. She may spend 5 minutes (this is her own admission in a parent conference) answering questions. She then has the students complete guided notes over the information as she sits at her desk and waits for them to approach her with their questions. If they don't have any questions, she'll either grade papers or work on her computer (yet again, her own admissions in a parent conference). I see this as a complete waste of flipping a class. How is this any different from what the students used to do when they would go home and read the textbook, taking notes? I think in classes that are still structured like that, those teachers still lecture, so the students are getting some guidance in the attainment of content. The students feel unsupported in this classroom. It is so unfortunate because these are the best students in our school and would benefit so much from the flipped classroom. This is the one thing that frustrates me about the claim of a student-centered classroom. You have teachers who take that as it is the students' job to figure out what they know and what they don't know. I'm just here to guide them along the way. Really? I teacher 14 year olds. They aren't sure about anything in their lives, let alone what they completely understand and what confuses them about Geography or Algebra 2 or Biology or Shakespeare. I'm all for them learning this, but I know they don't have that expertise just yet. Heck, there are things I think I understand and can do, but I only realize I can't after giving it a try. I'm not sure what the answer is, I just want people to be mindful of going along with the new eduction trend, but not doing it in a meaningful way. There are so many great ideas out there, choose the one that best fits you and your classroom, and do it all the way. Your students will know that you don't fully buy into it, and they may possibly revolt against you at some point in the year. Just some thoughts. Stewart