QR Classroom!

This QR Code will take you to my blog.

During NYSCATE 2012 one of the most interesting sessions I attended dealt with Quick Response (QR) Codes.  Even if you are not familiar with QR Codes, chances are you have seen them.  One of the most common uses of QR Codes is as part of magazine advertisements.  If you see a QR Code and have a mobile device (cell phone, iPod, iPad, etc...) and a QR Reader app, scanning a code is a simple and quick process.  Last year, our library media specialist introduced me to QR Codes as a way to link to author and book websites, but I did not fully understand what they were capable of doing. Needless to say, I did not have a very good understanding of QR Codes and how they could be used in my classroom.  Walking into the session at NYSCATE 2012, I had believed that QR codes were only able to send you to a website.  That in itself is valuable and avoids users having to remember and type in long URLs, however the same could be accomplished by sending an email link to my students.  As the session began I was very excited to learn that QR Codes can be used for so much more!

In addition to URL links, QR Codes can be used to store and link to text, images, email addresses, Twitter accounts, map locations, Facebook accounts, videos, and even to send SMS text messages.  As you can imagine as a social studies teacher who has a class set of iPod Touches I was very excited to hear about these uses.  Less than a week of school after learning of these uses I have turned my classroom into a "QR Classroom."

The first thing I needed to do was make sure my iPod Touches had the capabilities of scanning QR Codes.  I was able to quickly download an free app called "i-Nigma" to each of the twenty-three iPod Touches I have in my classroom.  Teaching my students to use the app was quick and painless and after only a few days of experience many are "experts" at using QR Codes.  Now, only a few short school days after NYSCATE 2012, I have QR Codes hanging all over my room for several different uses.

Students can quickly reach my website with remembering the URL.

I even put a QR code in the hallway so parents can quickly reach my website.

One of the most common things I deal with in my classroom in regards to the iPod Touches is unsolicited advice from students on what apps we should download.  I decided that I would allow my students to suggest new apps.  On my classroom website I set up a form that allows my students to suggest apps.  The form asks for the name of the app, the price (free ones are much more likely to be downloaded!) and the reason why the app has educational value. After reading a few submissions I did edit the form to add a "Name" box.  This was not necessary, but I was getting a lot of very creative reasons that apps were educational and wanted to be able to pair the reasoning with the student who wrote it.  Another nice part about the form is that the submissions are emailed to me and automatically sorted into their own folder.  This allows me to examine the suggestions at my leisure.

App suggestion QR Code and Kidblog QR Code.

Some of the other QR Codes I have hanging throughout my classroom are an "Email Mr. Hoover" QR Code, a link to Kidblog.org, and a link to Culture Grams.  Kidblog.org is a kid friendly blogging service that I have begun using with my students (this may the subject of a future post).  Culture Grams is a research database that my fifth graders use for state research and my sixth graders use for country research.

Email Mr. Hoover QR Code

Another Email Mr. Hoover QR Code

Kidblog.org and Culture Gram QR Codes

Hanging QR Codes around my classroom is not the only way I have been using QR Codes.  After a little experimenting I was able to determine the size QR Codes needed to be on my SmartBoard in order to allow students, even in the back row, to scan the codes from their seats.  I also have begun to use QR Codes in my social studies unit guided notes.  I have created QR Codes that lead to non-fiction articles (hooray, common core!), videos, and even definitions that students match with vocabulary words.  These QR Codes are included right on the guided note packet that each student uses throughout the unit. 

QR Codes directly on guided notes.

In just a short time I have been able to begin implementing QR Codes in my classroom.  The students have been able to quickly understand how to use the app and have become adept at scanning the codes in an even shorter amount of time.  QR Codes are one of the coolest and one of the most time-saving techniques  I have been able to implement in my classroom.  I should note that this works well in my classroom because of the 1:1 student to iPod ratio.  If you are not able to provide 1:1 technology in your classroom the way you use QR Codes would need to be tweaked and may not work well for you. 

Note:
The site I have been using to create QR Codes is www.beqrious.com.  It is free and allows you to create and change the color of QR Codes for a wide variety of purposes.

NYSCATE 2012

 

Earlier this week I had the exciting opportunity to attend the annual NYSCATE conference in Rochester, NY.  I wanted to give a quick recap of the sessions I attended, later on I will go into more detail and share how I implement what I learned in my own classroom.

My wife and daughter made the trip to Rochester with me, essentially to get out of the house for a few days.  I was glad to have them come and my four month old daughter handled the nearly four hour drive like a champ!  After checking in at the Radisson and getting situated I was able to register and catch the 3:00 session on Sunday. 

The first breakout session I attended was titled "Using QR Codes in the Classroom."  I knew the basics of Quick Response (QR) codes, but other than knowing that they could provide quick links to websites, wasn't sure how they could be used in the classroom.  Our former librarian had been adding them to library books allowing students to quickly go to the author's website, book reviews, and interviews (audio and video) with the author.  I thought this was a great idea, but most of the time students in the library didn't have access to a device to read the QR codes.  I was excited to learn about the many ways QR codes can be used; links, questions, email, text messaging and even for phone calls.  This session was especially exciting for me since I have a classroom set of iPod Touches in my classroom.  I now have a long list of ways I plan to use QR codes and will post to share my successes and speed bumps as I go.

The next thing I attended was a keynote address by Adam Bellow.  Adam had a very interesting outlook on technology and education in general.  Additionally, he was a very entertaining and fun speaker to hear as an audience member. 

The following morning after breakfast I attended "Real Results! Notifications that Positively Impact Community Engagement."  This sessions introduced and explained how the Honeoye Falls-Lima School District has implemented the use of Blackboard Connect to communicate with parents and community members.  This was one of my "future administrator" sessions, but I found that the session helped spawn a lot of ideas that I could also implement as a teacher.

Another keynote speaker, Scott Kinney, followed the first session.  The speaker was very engaging and shared a lot of great ideas and information, but really he was "preaching to the choir" trying to convince attendees of the value of technology in education.  Most of the audience was in attendance, because they already believed in the importance of technology in education.

A "Technology Leadership Roundtable" was the next session I attended.  Initially this was another of the "future administrator" sessions, but ended up being very valuable as a teacher as well.  The session provided a great opportunity to share the ways I am using technology in the classroom and hear about other exciting ideas.  It was also a chance to brainstorm solutions to some of the speed bumps we all face when using technology in the classroom.

Another keynote speaker followed during our lunch.  Mike Lorion talked about digital citizenship and different ways to teach the concept to students.  Many good ideas were shared, since we all know one of the biggest challenges when using technology is teaching students to use it appropriately.

Following an hour of exhibitor time, or as most people call it "collecting free stuff with logos of companies who no one can explain what they do," I attended "Edmodo for the Dodo."  I have used Edmodo here and there the past two years, but never really had the chance to dig deep into the features.  Not only did I learn about a lot of the ways Edmodo can be used in the classroom I also learned about many other online resources that can work hand in hand with Edmodo.

The last session I attended the following morning was "Get Racing with Mobile Devices."  This session showed how several teachers from different states collaborated to use iPods and iPads in an "Amazing Race"-like project. Students used math, geography, science and logic to plan a trip to the birthplaces of various Presidents.  As a social studies teacher I wouldn't be able to completely incorporate this project, but with a little tweaking, I may try to incorporate it in the state and country reports my students do each year.

Overall, I had a lot of fun and learned a ton of new ways to use technology in my classroom.  As I implement these new ideas, I will post about how things go on this blog.

Paperless Technology Usage in 2012-13

Every school year is a new beginning for both teachers and students.  This year is no different, in fact it is a year full of even more new beginnings.  This is the first year that our district has re-aligned to three elementary schools instead of four.  Due to declining enrollment and budgetary issues the district determined that it was necessary to eliminate an elementary school.  The students and much of the staff were relocated to the remaining three elementary schools.  In my homeroom class of 21 fifth graders 9 of the students are new to our elementary school.  This number includes both students who are new to the district and ones who attended fourth grade in the building that closed.

Last school year we had three sections of fifth and sixth grade.  Two were fifth grade classes with approximately 15 students in each class.  The third was a single sixth grade class with 24 students.  This year we have two fifth grades of 21 students and two sixth grades of approximately 18 students.  This realignment of the schools will allow me to work with more students.  It has also allowed us to truly departmentalize once again with a separate teacher for each of ELA, social studies, science and math.  Now instead of teaching three sections of social studies, a section of ELA and a section of reading, I am teaching four social studies sections and a single reading section.

Throughout the course of my teaching and especially last year, when I added the use of iPods to my classroom, I developed and borrowed/stole a lot of ways to use technology with ELA.  Some of the ways I used technology in my ELA class can be recycled and used in similar ways for social studies and reading.

Last year I had 19 iPod Touches to use in my classroom.  This made it possible to reach students 1:1 in my two fifth grade classes, however with 24 sixth graders I was unable to reach the 1:1 ratio. We were able to use the iPods, but the students were divided into small groups.  This year my original 19 iPods would not be enough for either of the fifth grade classes.  Since I knew this before the end of last school year I was able to gain access to 4 more iPods allowing me to have enough for 1:1 access for all of my classes.

Just as I did last year before we start using the iPod Touches in the classroom a Parent and Student agreement has to be sent home and signed by the student and parent.  (So far I have had about 90% of the agreements returned.)  Until I have them all, I won't begin any projects that involve using the iPods.  The agreement is a way to make sure parents and students are aware that iPod usage falls under the same technology usage agreement they have already agreed to follow.  It also makes sure students know they are responsible to immediately report any damage to me.  Additionally, it is a slight "scare-tactic" letting the students know that they may be responsible to replace iPods that are broken due to misbehavior/foolishness.

Even though we haven't started using the iPods, daily technology use is still a part of my classroom.  The first thing that we did in my classroom after going over the classroom and school rules/guidelines was to go over the rules when using the SmartBoard.  The rules are a simple, but necessary, step to ensure the SmartBoard can be used throughout the year and into the future.  Most days while I am teaching I feel more like a "game show host" than a teacher since I am constantly calling students to the front of the room to reveal notes, answer questions or do other things using the SmartBoard.  My goal is to allow the students to use the SmartBoard as much or more than I do.

I am looking forward to diving into technology even more this year, while using the technology to help teach to the new common core standards.  Technology in education should not be used just as bells and whistles.  Technology can be a hook to get a child's attention, but it needs to add to the lesson and learning.  I feel that using technology to add to lessons and education is one of my strengths, due in part to my graduate studies.

As the year continues I will share some of the successful and less than successful ways I have integrated technology into the curriculum and classroom.

"Near" Paperless Research Practice

One of the skills that I feel is very important for students, regardless of their age, is the ability to find desired information while completing research.  When I was in school, and even during my early college years, finding research primarily involved looking through stacks and stacks of books.  Occasionally, we would get to use the microfiche reader, but the microfiche library was limited in regards to most topics.  Today information can be found with a simple internet search. Even though the searching process has been made easier, searching for information still requires a set of skills.

Instead of skimming for information while sifting through the stacks of books, today students need to know the best wording when completing an internet search.  They need to understand that sometimes simply switching one word can bring completely different search results.  Another lesson they need to learn is that being too specific, in many cases, will hinder an internet search.  Many of the students in my homeroom experienced this when working on a "Book Trailer" project earlier in the school year.  At first when my students were looking for a picture to represent a character they would search the exact name of the character.  In most cases this would lead to few or no images.  However, when students searched for "10 year old boy" instead of the character by name they were able to find many useful images.

My two fifth grade social studies classes are just beginning, World War II, our last unit of the school year.  For this exercise I created a partially filled chart (see the modified version at the bottom).  My students were in charge of using their Safari on their iPods or other sources (including their textbook) to complete the chart.  Some of the information to fill in the blanks in the chart would be easy to find, while I anticipated the information for other blanks would be more difficult to find.

Almost all of my students had a great deal of success when filling in the first two columns.  Most of the information was easy to find when using a search engine such as Yahoo or Google.  When creating the chart I had anticipated that the third column would be the most challenging for my students.  This was for the simple reason that despite many mini lessons a lot of my students still believe they are getting information from Yahoo and Google.  Of course, they are simply using Yahoo and Google as a way to search for information on other websites.

Overall, this activity was very successful.  It gave me a chance to reiterate that Yahoo and Google are not sources.  Additionally, it also gave my students a chance to practice their research and internet search skills.  In the future I hope to find a way (other than constantly switching between apps) to eliminate using paper for the chart.

Date	Event/Description	Source
January 30, 1933
	France surrenders to the Axis Powers
December 7, 1941
	Germany and Italy declare war on the U.S.  The U.S. declares war on the Axis Powers.
September 8, 1943
	D-Day
April 12, 1945
	Mussolini is killed.
May 1, 1945
	Germany Surrenders
August 6, 1945
	Second atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki.
September 2, 1945

This article appeared in The Daily Star on May 18, 2012

Project brings world to students through technology

A few of my students working on the project.

By Mark Boshnack Staff Writer

ONEONTA -- Fifteen Valleyview Elementary School students are working regularly with their counterparts from around the world -- without leaving their building.

School librarian Emily Gibson has teamed up with fifth-grade social studies teacher Adam Hoover and his students in the "A Week in the Life" global collaboration project. Many talked about the experience Thursday at Valleyview.

It allows Oneonta students using iPod Touch mobile devices purchased through a community donation, along with existing school hardware, to collaborate on the Internet with 600 peers in 31 schools on four continents, for a better understanding of their similarities and differences, Gibson said.

Besides the United States, other countries include China, Lebanon and Australia.

The Oneonta students started their work, using a variety of software programs, in March.

They have divided into groups to explore a variety of themes: school, leisure, housing and transportation, language and clothing, food and celebrations and environment. They are already working on their final project, a multimedia project that will share photos and comments showcasing their topics.

Hoover said he and Gibson were looking at different projects that deal with "digital citizenship" including Internet safety, when they found this program. It went beyond that while addressing a curriculum that calls for learning about different cultures, he said.

"The technology is the hook that allows teachers to focus on education," he said. "Students are learning a lot and having a great experience without realizing it."

The project started by students recording a "digital handshake," introducing themselves to others around the world, Gibson said.

Fifth-grader Erin Stalder, who talked about the project Wednesday, said she is working in the "school" group. "We are talking with people around the world, learning about their cultures." This includes "taking pictures of Oneonta and putting them online to show others where we live."

In comparing her experience to others, she has been surprised to see how big some of the other school cafeterias area. She was glad she doesn't have to wear uniforms like some other students do.

Internet safety issues are addressed because no student last names are used, Gibson said. The project is helping students use the computer in a productive way.

This includes several students who were working on their projects Thursday. Shaun Jones said he is focused on housing and transportation. He has taken relevant pictures to show students in other locations what can be found here.

"I like the project," he said. "It involved learning many new things."

Cassidy Fetterman, is researching language and clothing. She was looking at photos of students and was glad that students in Oneonta did not wear uniforms that some of her counterparts did.

She has enjoyed talking pictures with the iPod and being able to describe them. She also enjoys commenting on others.

Paul Zimmer was looking at photos from all around the world. Working on schools, he had posted several photos of Valleyview. It was interesting to see how it compares to other facilities.