Evernote is a great tool for classroom documentation.
It used to be that the other kindergarten teachers and I would walk around the classroom with a clipboard and scribble notes about student learning, thinking, challenges, and any other skill or ability that our children were demonstrating. By the time report writing came around, I had amassed quite a stack of scribbles and post-it's. It was really nothing that I could share with anyone until after I spent some time sifting through the scribbles and writing drafts of my reports. Using Evernote on our iPads, we can do more and we can share it all. Having created one Evernote folder for each student, I can now walk around the classroom as learning is happening and capture the students articulating their thinking. Evernote allows teachers to type notes, take photos, upload photos, and record audio.
Now, using Evernote, I am able to take a photo of a student's work, and then have a conversation with her as I record her thinking. I can make her thinking visible. (to me, to her, to another teacher who was not present, even to her parents if needed)
Using tags, I can come back later and search for a particular student's work. I can search for all math pattern work or all reading levels or any other category of learning that I tag to find out how we are doing as a whole class. I can save emails and documents that pertain to a student's learning or challenges in their individual Evernote folder.
I can take notes during parent conferences - using my tablet pc and Evernote I can even ink notes in Evernote during meetings and conferences. (dear Evernote, please make inking possible on the iPad version...)
Why this is a good idea:
-use evernote to snap photos of students at work and then write your notes directly onto the note for that photo
-use a new note to compose thoughts for reports from anywhere in your classroom, another classroom, on a field trip, anywhere
-use audio recording in evernote for classroom documentation, both student-led and teacher
-create a folder in your evenote binder for each student at the start of the year
-use evernote to add other documentation on each student as needed - emails, documents, photos, etc.
-open your evernote folders from any computer to write reports or updates or to check for assessments
-share your folders with other teachers, support people as needed
-keep every artifact about your students together, paperless, and accessible from anywhere
Friday, November 18, 2011
A Challenge to App Designers - Where are the Essential Math Apps for Young Learners?
One of our Kindergarten teachers, Denise Coffin, and I have spent three intense days at the Leveraging Learning: the iPad in Primary Grades institute in Auburn, Maine. It has been a gathering of about 120 people from public and independent schools all asking the questions such as, "Are iPads the educational tools that will transform a student's experience by creating opportunities to customize learning?" As educators, we are all in search of methods and tools that will help students access the curriculum in ways that extend their thinking and engage them more deeply in the concepts they are learning. Learning becomes engaging when students are given the chance to ask questions and are encouraged to discover the answers using materials, tools, and guidance from a teacher, or through collaborating with classmates. What are the teaching methods, combined with powerful learning tools, that will help all students soar, grow, and feel successful? iPads offer an intuitive interface that we have seen students of many ages interact with creatively, confidently, and with engagement. In these early days, the apps designed for education are still in their early stages. There are new apps out every day, but few of them make the grade for constructivism, deepening of understanding, or richness of material. At the institute, we spent an evening with Ruben Puendetura discussing his iPad Flows. Ruben has deep roots in constructivist thinking and computers in education, going back to the early days of Seymour Papert and Alan Kay. He has reviewed over 800 apps in search of those that meet the qualities of engagement that deepens understanding. I will post about each of his flows in the near future. He has posted a pdf of his flows on the Institute Resources along with many other useful materials. After his presentation, we approached him at lunch to ask about the absence of a math flow in his collection of apps for young learners. His response was that, at this point, there aren't apps out there for young math learners that fulfill our expectations. We looked together at his Math Flow for older students, which includes interactive graphing calculators, geometry, and higher math apps. Of all of these, the two that could be used with younger students are Touch Draw, which would allow us to create shapes, even virtual Cuisenaire rods, for students to explore and manipulate, Sketchpad Explorer, which offers geometry exploration and discovery similar to Geometer's Sketchpad, and WolframAlpha, a "computational knowledge engine". What is missing? Where are the apps that help kids work through problem solving and logic questions in a real and engaging way? Where are the apps that make math thinking visible, that challenge children to question the underlying concepts of math? Where are the apps that introduce concepts in a way that students can interact with materials, repeat the experience, and customize their learning? Here is the challenge to app designers who would like to create worthwhile, potentially essential, math apps. We reflected on the days when "The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis" was still able to run on our computers. This engaging activity presented kids with fun, but often tough, logic problems to solve in the context of a story about traveling Zoombinis. The closest program like that is available only on a computer that runs flash, called "The Lure of the Labyrinth". We are also waiting for programming experiences such as Scratch to move to the iPad. Evidently that app appeared, was taken down by Apple, and is in redesign at this time.
The Math Flow just doesn't exist yet for our younger learners. Educators are willing and eager to find a way to make this happen. There's never been a better time for creative app designers to connect with educators to explore new ways to deepen and broaden student understanding of math using the unique interface of the iPad.
The Math Flow just doesn't exist yet for our younger learners. Educators are willing and eager to find a way to make this happen. There's never been a better time for creative app designers to connect with educators to explore new ways to deepen and broaden student understanding of math using the unique interface of the iPad.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
October Progress Report on iPads in Kindergarten and as a Teacher Productivity Tool
The iPad implementation group met this week to share experiences with the iPads for students and for teachers. The conversation ranged from iOS5, iCloud, and Evernote tips, to how K's are interacting with the iPads in class and the many ways they are being used there.
Classroom Activites with iPads in Kindergarten
While our two kindergartens are using the iPads in different ways, they are both finding them helpful tools that support their academic goals. The previous post, with a video of the handwriting app, is an example of a way the iPad is impacting the curriculum. We discussed whether adding a stylus would help with the pencil grip issue, but the teachers pointed out that to use a finger to trace the letters helps the student focus directly on the correct letter formation, and separates the formation from the small motor issues related to holding a pencil correctly, managing other tools like an eraser, etc. They see this as great reinforcement and practice which goes along with the pencil-paper lessons. Our teachers are finding more and more uses for the iPad during their teaching day. While I had thought we could share the sets with older classes as a chance to test them at other levels, one of our kindergartens now says they are just too useful to share. They make them available during math and language arts time so that students who are finished with work or ready for greater challenges can move forward using the selected apps we have agreed on for the program. They are surprised to find that, at this point, they don't use them for informal "choice" time and have not yet used the drawing apps very much. There is a plan to do a project based on a field trip, where students will upload a photo and tell the story of the trip using a drawing and recording app like Screen Chomp. This is where iCloud will be useful, so that all the iPads can share photos.
Teacher Productivity with iPads
This was a great session for teachers to share their experiences with Evernote, including shared notebooks (we have subscribed to Evernote), inked notes, tags, and organizing folders. Our third grade teacher, who is trying out the iPad as his record-keeping tool this year, has found that he can use his Toshiba tablet PC with the Ink Note feature to hand write notes as he talks to kids in reading conferences or other meetings for one-to-one assessment. He feels that inking sends a better message than typing, and with the syncing ability, he has access to the handwritten notes on the iPad as well. We are hoping Evernote will include Ink Notes on their next upgrade, which would really help make note-taking like this more efficient. Many of our teachers had not understood the value of tagging notes, which serves the same purpose as having folders. We discussed how one could collect all of a student's work in a folder, but sort our notes by topic through tags, such as "Betty reading comprehension"," Betty math", etc. Once a tag has been established, it appears on the list of choices, so you can write a detailed tag once, then never have to write it again. The upgrade to iOS5 has added the opportunities provided by iCloud to the mix. Teachers are eager to try out the chance to share photos and projects across iPads via the cloud. We have already tested the photo stream and can see that it will be a great addition.
In November, one of the K teachers and I look forward to attending and learning much more in Auburn, Maine at the institute entitled: Leveraging Learning: the iPad in Primary Grades
Classroom Activites with iPads in Kindergarten
While our two kindergartens are using the iPads in different ways, they are both finding them helpful tools that support their academic goals. The previous post, with a video of the handwriting app, is an example of a way the iPad is impacting the curriculum. We discussed whether adding a stylus would help with the pencil grip issue, but the teachers pointed out that to use a finger to trace the letters helps the student focus directly on the correct letter formation, and separates the formation from the small motor issues related to holding a pencil correctly, managing other tools like an eraser, etc. They see this as great reinforcement and practice which goes along with the pencil-paper lessons. Our teachers are finding more and more uses for the iPad during their teaching day. While I had thought we could share the sets with older classes as a chance to test them at other levels, one of our kindergartens now says they are just too useful to share. They make them available during math and language arts time so that students who are finished with work or ready for greater challenges can move forward using the selected apps we have agreed on for the program. They are surprised to find that, at this point, they don't use them for informal "choice" time and have not yet used the drawing apps very much. There is a plan to do a project based on a field trip, where students will upload a photo and tell the story of the trip using a drawing and recording app like Screen Chomp. This is where iCloud will be useful, so that all the iPads can share photos.
Teacher Productivity with iPads
This was a great session for teachers to share their experiences with Evernote, including shared notebooks (we have subscribed to Evernote), inked notes, tags, and organizing folders. Our third grade teacher, who is trying out the iPad as his record-keeping tool this year, has found that he can use his Toshiba tablet PC with the Ink Note feature to hand write notes as he talks to kids in reading conferences or other meetings for one-to-one assessment. He feels that inking sends a better message than typing, and with the syncing ability, he has access to the handwritten notes on the iPad as well. We are hoping Evernote will include Ink Notes on their next upgrade, which would really help make note-taking like this more efficient. Many of our teachers had not understood the value of tagging notes, which serves the same purpose as having folders. We discussed how one could collect all of a student's work in a folder, but sort our notes by topic through tags, such as "Betty reading comprehension"," Betty math", etc. Once a tag has been established, it appears on the list of choices, so you can write a detailed tag once, then never have to write it again. The upgrade to iOS5 has added the opportunities provided by iCloud to the mix. Teachers are eager to try out the chance to share photos and projects across iPads via the cloud. We have already tested the photo stream and can see that it will be a great addition.
In November, one of the K teachers and I look forward to attending and learning much more in Auburn, Maine at the institute entitled: Leveraging Learning: the iPad in Primary Grades
Friday, October 21, 2011
Handwriting: iPads and Paper and Pencil
The Kindergarten has a weekly guided lesson on the iPads. This week during their handwriting practice, groups moved through the iPad activities on iWriteWords and traditional worksheets. One of our theories about using iPads was that with the right app that gives students direction for their letter formation and feedback when they do it incorrectly, they would get the kind of repeated practice that will eventually make the formation of letters come naturally. This video demonstrates the challenge of guiding a kindergartener through correct letter formation with paper and pencil, compared to practicing repeatedly with feedback on the iPad.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
iPads as table easels
A new idea!
This week the iPads came in extremely handy as we used them in a brand new way - something we did not anticipate using iPads to accomplish. The children were asked to copy something from one easel we had in the room. (a weekly activity) Since the children are spread out at various tables, they usually need to wait for the easel to "travel" to their table in order to take their turn copying down a message.
We decided to use the iPads to make the easel work more accessible to all the children. We took a picture of the easel on a number of iPads and set the iPads in front of those children who weren’t in direct eyesight of the easel. This helped us manage our children and our time in a much better way! Everyone got to work on the project simultaneously. As a class, we were able to finish earlier than we normally would and move onto our next activity.
The iPads could be used as this type of table easel for almost anything that requires student examination. We'll likely use this same idea for art discussions, community meetings, word wall words, etc....
Below is an example of our students using the iPads as individual easels:
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Introducing the iPads to the students!
In KX, we found it extremely important to have an orientation (10-15 minutes) with the children on how to handle the iPads. Our assumptions were that the children would be so familiar with iPads (seeing as how prevalent they are in many children’s homes) that they would just jump into using them. What we discovered very quickly was that using mom or dad's iPad for games requires different skills/knowledge/care than using them in a targeted manner for our enrichment activities.
Our observation was that many children put their entire hand on the iPads and weren’t accustomed to dragging their fingers over the screen yet. They were unaware of how to open the lid to create an "easel." They needed to be taught how we want them to begin or approach the iPad - in our case, we have the covers closed and want the students to wait for instructions, then open and begin with an app that we already have open. They also needed to practice ending their iPad time - clearing their work and leaving the app open at it's starting point for the next group. We worked with a small group of six children at a time and we modeled the proper uses of the I-Pad by demonstrating right in front of them before they tried it on their own. By the end of the orientation, the children were using their fingers properly and were onto trying out the fantastic programs we have for them!
We decided to open this introduction and exploration session using the DoodleArt app. This video shows the students trying out their first app.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Reflections on art apps.
It has been a fun and interesting summer with the ipad! After watching my nearly 7 year old and nearly 2 year old use the ipad and explore apps and after my own exploration of academic apps I find that most of the reviews from classroom teachers fall in line with my thoughts regarding those apps.
As an art teacher I was most interested in exploring the drawing and design apps keeping in mind their use primarily with the younger grades. We all know that nothing takes the place of sensorial stimulation, development and satisfaction of pencil, pen, marker or brush to paper, canvas or other surface, nonetheless using some of these apps will promote sensorial engagement and fine motor development. That being said, here are my reviews of the ones I thought have merit for use in the classroom for individual and small group work.
* Draw Free: Of all of the drawing apps my daughter seemed to enjoy this one the most and I can easily see why. The overall design of this app is visually appealing and very easy to figure out without the need for turorial. The screen opens with a textured tan background and offers very clear and simple options for changing your background color to one of many offered or for importing photos or drawings as backgrounds for drawing on. It only offers one tool which although called a brush, is more like drawing lines and has options for varying the thickeness of the line. A fun looking color wheel can be accessed to change the line color. This is a perfect app to introduce the idea of drawing on the ipad for the younger grades.
* Doodle Buddy and Brushes: These are both great art making apps for classroom use with younger students. They offer more options than Draw Free in terms of tools and the ability to see the result of overlapping the marks made by those tools as there is transparency to some of the media. They also offer the option of changing tool thickness, color and media (such as paint, marker, chalk etc). These are more in line with the basic paint programs that students use in the the tech lab but the screens seem tobe designed to please and encourage the success of younger students.
* Mirror Lite Paint: Wow! So much fun, even I was addicted. As an art teacher, it is one thing to discuss the notion of true symmetry with students and a whole other thing to provide students with an opportunity to have simple explorations of it that do not require mirror, paint and folding paper in half or cutting lines or shapes through stacked sheets of paper and aligning them. This is a very satisfying exploration of symmetry! The screen can be divided into two or 4 which provides all the more excitement and interest. Tools and colors vary in thickness and media to a degree and the marks overlap but without transparency. It offers beautiful and vibrant color options for both background and tools creating bold and exciting outcomes. Watching what you draw mirror or mirror in quadruple has a kaleidescopic effect that is mezmerizing and kids will truly grasp the notion of symmetry even after one or two attempts. This is a great precursor or addition to the aforementioned mirrors, paint and paper symmetry explorations for younger students.
For Elementary use and beyond, in the art room or classroom, I discovered and downloaded (utilizing my personal apple account) two free art apps that I think are very worthwhile.
* Art HD: This is a visual feast of an app and that is even before you get into exploring it. It is gorgeously designed and accompanied by sounds of classical music throughout. The free version offers a limited but wonderful menu of classical European artists, Impressionists, Fauvists as well as Mexican muralist Diego Rivera and Surrealist Frida Kahlo and an American Modernist or two that you can choose to learn about. They provide an image of either a portrait, self portrait or photograph of the artists as your entree to their info. When selected you can view biographical info but the best part is viewing the art. You can enter an on screen gallery for a particular artist and view their art as a slide show, pausing when desired. The resolution of the images is stunning and the color and textural translation is fantastic, all accompanied by the wondefrul and uninterrupted music. You also have the option of creating your own galleries by importing images and biographical info for the artists that you desire to have available. I love this app and can only imagine what the full version has to offer!
* MOMA: This app is like taking a mini tour through some of the MOMA's permanent collection. Having grown up in New York and having visited the MOMA often during my youth, this was like a visit with old friends. It is modern and sophisticated in design (I'd expect nothing less of the MOMA). The prevailing background color is white which allows all of the artwork to sing on the screen and sing they do! They arrange the paintings on a white wall just as they are at the MOMA (with infrequent exception). The works of art hang with appropriate distance from each other as in the museum and with variation in scale as in the museum so you truly have the feeling of walking through one of the galleries. In the free version only paintings are avaiable for view and as expected the resolution is superb as is the color and textural translation. When you click on a painting and enlarged version comes up with limited info about the artist. A menu on the side offers "About this work" and "More about this work". Most of the works will be familiar to appreciators of art and are must knows in understanding modern art.
I have throughly enjoyed my time with the ipad and am grateful for the experience!
As an art teacher I was most interested in exploring the drawing and design apps keeping in mind their use primarily with the younger grades. We all know that nothing takes the place of sensorial stimulation, development and satisfaction of pencil, pen, marker or brush to paper, canvas or other surface, nonetheless using some of these apps will promote sensorial engagement and fine motor development. That being said, here are my reviews of the ones I thought have merit for use in the classroom for individual and small group work.
* Draw Free: Of all of the drawing apps my daughter seemed to enjoy this one the most and I can easily see why. The overall design of this app is visually appealing and very easy to figure out without the need for turorial. The screen opens with a textured tan background and offers very clear and simple options for changing your background color to one of many offered or for importing photos or drawings as backgrounds for drawing on. It only offers one tool which although called a brush, is more like drawing lines and has options for varying the thickeness of the line. A fun looking color wheel can be accessed to change the line color. This is a perfect app to introduce the idea of drawing on the ipad for the younger grades.
* Doodle Buddy and Brushes: These are both great art making apps for classroom use with younger students. They offer more options than Draw Free in terms of tools and the ability to see the result of overlapping the marks made by those tools as there is transparency to some of the media. They also offer the option of changing tool thickness, color and media (such as paint, marker, chalk etc). These are more in line with the basic paint programs that students use in the the tech lab but the screens seem tobe designed to please and encourage the success of younger students.
* Mirror Lite Paint: Wow! So much fun, even I was addicted. As an art teacher, it is one thing to discuss the notion of true symmetry with students and a whole other thing to provide students with an opportunity to have simple explorations of it that do not require mirror, paint and folding paper in half or cutting lines or shapes through stacked sheets of paper and aligning them. This is a very satisfying exploration of symmetry! The screen can be divided into two or 4 which provides all the more excitement and interest. Tools and colors vary in thickness and media to a degree and the marks overlap but without transparency. It offers beautiful and vibrant color options for both background and tools creating bold and exciting outcomes. Watching what you draw mirror or mirror in quadruple has a kaleidescopic effect that is mezmerizing and kids will truly grasp the notion of symmetry even after one or two attempts. This is a great precursor or addition to the aforementioned mirrors, paint and paper symmetry explorations for younger students.
For Elementary use and beyond, in the art room or classroom, I discovered and downloaded (utilizing my personal apple account) two free art apps that I think are very worthwhile.
* Art HD: This is a visual feast of an app and that is even before you get into exploring it. It is gorgeously designed and accompanied by sounds of classical music throughout. The free version offers a limited but wonderful menu of classical European artists, Impressionists, Fauvists as well as Mexican muralist Diego Rivera and Surrealist Frida Kahlo and an American Modernist or two that you can choose to learn about. They provide an image of either a portrait, self portrait or photograph of the artists as your entree to their info. When selected you can view biographical info but the best part is viewing the art. You can enter an on screen gallery for a particular artist and view their art as a slide show, pausing when desired. The resolution of the images is stunning and the color and textural translation is fantastic, all accompanied by the wondefrul and uninterrupted music. You also have the option of creating your own galleries by importing images and biographical info for the artists that you desire to have available. I love this app and can only imagine what the full version has to offer!
* MOMA: This app is like taking a mini tour through some of the MOMA's permanent collection. Having grown up in New York and having visited the MOMA often during my youth, this was like a visit with old friends. It is modern and sophisticated in design (I'd expect nothing less of the MOMA). The prevailing background color is white which allows all of the artwork to sing on the screen and sing they do! They arrange the paintings on a white wall just as they are at the MOMA (with infrequent exception). The works of art hang with appropriate distance from each other as in the museum and with variation in scale as in the museum so you truly have the feeling of walking through one of the galleries. In the free version only paintings are avaiable for view and as expected the resolution is superb as is the color and textural translation. When you click on a painting and enlarged version comes up with limited info about the artist. A menu on the side offers "About this work" and "More about this work". Most of the works will be familiar to appreciators of art and are must knows in understanding modern art.
I have throughly enjoyed my time with the ipad and am grateful for the experience!
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