Learning in the Lou

EdCamp is always a re-juvenating experience for me because it is rare that I have a full day to talk to adults. I spend my day talking to kids, working with kids and intermittently talking to adults about the current day and situation. EdCamp exposes me to a whole new network of colleagues every year. It is a unique opportunity to talk to people doing amazing things in the classroom that I would otherwise never meet. I am never disappointed by my time at EdCamp, whether I get help to discuss or I am helping a new colleague work through a problem. Last year I met a woman who leads the math department at her school, and we are now close friends that observe classrooms and share ideas of what is working and not working in the classroom for math education. My time this year I focused on computer science in the general education classroom, mindfulness and math workshop ideas at the middle school level. Below I have left a list of resources for anyone who wants to check them out. I have alre...

You have this sweet Google Site and you need to add some classroom images to it. This is wicked easy as long as you are using Google Photos. Check out some of our older Google Photos posts.       Google Photos - Maybe the best photo app of all       Making Beautiful Art (Summer 2017 class) Google Photos - First Step Open Google Photos . Start by clicking on the images you want to add to your site. Once all your images have been selected, click the plus symbol in the upper right. Click Album . Either add to an existing album or create a new one. New Album Creation Name the album. Click the check to save. Second Step - Google Sites Open your Google Site. Double click on any blank spot. Click Image . Click Your albums at the top. Select the album of images you want to add. Choose your images. Click the blue select button at the bottom of the screen. The images appear righ...

The first session I attended at Ed Camp this year about Project Based Learning specifically for gifted students. PBL is a way of teaching where students learn by working on a project over time to investigate and respond to real-life problems. The person leading the session shared an example where his 5th graders build dog houses for the local shelter that was in need. The students researched how big the dogs were, made a plan, built a paper prototype, made a cardboard revised model and then actually build real dog houses out of wood. Eventually, our conversation shifted to giving all students PBL options. Here are the tips and resources that I took away. Resources The bie.org- Buck Institute -Collaborate with librarian and other teachers -Invite community members in to speak about issues in the community -Prompt the presenter to ask your kids for help Tips Look at grade level standards and incorporate as many as possible into projects Questions to start PBL 50 things that...

Thoughts about EdCamp STL 2018…. There are times when I attend an EdCamp and come away with an idea that I will implement the minute I get back to school. Sometimes I will start extended research the minute I get home so that I don’t forget what I have learned. This year, however, I didn’t come away with that spark of an idea or wealth of knowledge until I began to dig into this website. http://www.learningscientists.org The vision of this website is: is to make scientific research on learning more accessible to students, teachers, and other educators. We aim to : Motivate students to study Increase the use of effective study and teaching strategies that are backed by research Decrease negative views of testing Since testing does not seem to be going away, I thought that these strategies were a breath of “Growth Mindset”. They include visuals and videos that help explain each strategy. PRACTICE BRINGING INFORMATION TO MIND Put away your class materials,...

IF there was only a way that when T his happened, T hen T hat would trigger. That is a pretty terrible sentence, but it was attempting to highlight a pretty sweet tool called IFTTT (if this, then that). IFTTT, saying it sounds like gift. When you do one thing, something else automatically happens. Getting Started Log into your classroom facebook page. Log into your twitter account. Create an account at IFTTT . Next Steps Log into IFTTT. 1. Click search . 2. Search - connect facebook page to twitter . 3. Click the icon you see in this image. You may need to scroll down on the page a bit. Click Connect . Select your classroom facebook page. Scroll down until you see T weet your Facebook status updates . Click on that. Toggle this on. Click Ok . Authorize Twitter. Add your credentials. Click Authorize app . All set and ready to go. Pro Tips Sometimes IFTTT stops working. Make sure you are check...

Fritz 2018 LindberghU EdCamp Doc Here are some of the things that got me most excited at EdCamp this year. Some I had heard of or even used before but I included here to share with other people and some were new to me. I was the only primary teacher in the room but it was good to hear what is happening at the intermediate and middle levels. Also a few of the participants ran after school computer clubs and that is something I am interested in starting at Dressel. App Inventor- MIT (good for after Scratch) http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/ Google CS First (FREE) introductory to advanced cs-first.com Code.org (FREE) Hour of Code and Courses A-F code.org Digital Passport- Digital Citizenship Digital Passport Project Lead the Way- very expensive, interface was convoluted and not user friendly Make Code Micro Bits https://makecode.microbit (recommendation: Start with a 12.99 piece from MicroCenter) Sparkfun https://www.sparkfun.com/ Adafruit https://www.adafruit.com/ Code Monkey ($50...

Did you ever notice that I always wear brown pants? They are my version of grown up geranimals, I have no clue what actaully matches or goes together. I know that whatever shirt I pull out should match brown pants. Does this sound like you? Maybe you have a better understanding of how things match. Whichever person you are, this event is for you! Come and learn about design theory and then go and find it in Ikea. I feel this might help some of us as we struggle to redesign our classroom spaces. Only like $7 and two hours. Think of possibilities. Why not grab a team and join us for this event. 

One session I attended at Edcamp this year was about Sketchnoting. Sketchnoting is using simple images to associate with written notes. Students can create their own images or teachers can provide images in a graphic organizer for students to write in. Sketchnoting helps students remember the notes they took. Here is an example of a teacher provided graphic organizer: We also talked about having writable surfaces for students to sketch out their ideas. Writable surfaces include walls, tables, whiteboards, etc. For more inspiration follow this link to review the notes from the Sketchnoting session. -Liz Hughes

We saw this video the other night during a meeting and it just struck me on so many levels. 1. Learn by making. This reminds me of how you become a better reader, you read. I'm sure Kelvin has made a stack of mistakes, but in the end, he created something beyond measure. 2. MIT Media Lab. Unlimited Creative Freedom. Is this their own version of genius hour? 3. It seems like the whole foucs is PBL, problem-based learning. Kelvin needed power, the problem, so he created a battery. Another issue was broadcasting, so he built his how radio station. 4. You already have everything you need if you look around. He found everything he needed in the trash. Conditions will never be perfect, so why not start creating now! 5. The community members couldn't call into his radio show so they texted. It is almost as if he had a solution for every obstacle. 6. You need a team, you can't do it alone. 7. How many Kelvin's do we have in our classrooms. How can we help them ...

I'm not 100% sure what to expect but I know it will be worthwhile. It will take place at Ikea before they open which is pretty cool. While I don't know a lot about the culture of Ikea I'm excited to learn new ideas I can bring back to the district. The tickets are wicked cheap, under $10. Why not take a risk and check it out! Click here for more details.

So you want kids to be writing and conferencing with each other but time always seems to get away from you. What if you could have one single Google Slide with multiple timers already built in? This would totally solve your problem! Start by creating your Google Slides. Search Youtube for the exact timer you need. I'm going to start with a ten-minute timer. Copy the link (URL) to the video. Open Slides. Click Insert . Click Video . 1. Click By URL . 2. Paste the URL. Click Select . Repeat the steps above to add multiple timers on the Google Slides page. This works very well to keeping everyone in the classroom moving forward.

What if I told you by creating one simple Padlet page you could totally transform your whole classroom in one week or less, sound interesting? The other day we were shown a page that some teachers at MOSAIC Elementary in Mehlville were using. At first glance, it was like any other until I leaned in and really studied it. What I saw was beyond what I thought possible. What you see above is a sample we recreated based on the original image.  At the beginning of each week, the teacher creates a new Padlet page. The purpose of the page is always stated at the top, for this idea the purpose always remains the same. The student's only post to this particular board using one of two categories, strength or coach.      Strength - Use this to indicate something you are pretty good at. This could range from posting to Seesaw, accessing an online resource, a subtraction method and on from there.      Coach - This heading would be used wh...

Some of you might remember using Wallwisher years ago. It was a simple site that was pretty much like a virtual board you could pin Post-It notes too. Wallwisher changed its name to Padlet and has greatly improved over the years. Getting Started Start by creating an account by visiting Padlet . Next Steps Log in. Click  + MAKE A PADLET in the upper left corner. 1. Click the Preview button to see what the pages actually look like before selecting one. 2. Click SELECT when you found the type of page you want to use. This appears on the far right side of the screen. 1. Add a title and description . I like to say make sure your description is really directions. People sometimes do not recall the purpose of the page five seconds after you tell them what to use it for. Simple directions will greatly improve the quality of the posts. 2. Pick a background. 3. Click Next . 1. The page will default to secret, someone needs the direct link to...

The app was recently updated and you really don't want to miss out on these new additions. Tons of people are using Padlet for a million reasons from book clubs, sharing progress on projects, creating boards to help classmates find what to read next and genius hour. This update adds a few new tools to that mix. This post will introduce some of the new options. Getting Started Update the app on your mobile. Create a new Padlet. Click the big plus in the lower right corner. Carefully click the three dots . You are now presented with a large number of options. This post will cover snap, film, voice and draw. Snap This looks similar to all the other tools. Click Done in the upper left when ready to upload. Film Select the Film  option to record a video. When you click stop the clip will allow you to add a title and description. The title and description are as important as the video. Help your students understand this o...