Twitter!

This week I followed a Twitter chat with the hashtag #flipclass. This chat was all about how teachers are using the idea of a flipped classroom in their schools. The main focus of the chat this week was how to keep classroom management under control when doing a flipped class, and also how teachers are implementing this in the classroom. One of the biggest take aways for me during this chat was that teachers were commenting about how much more class time they can use for discussions and they are really able to dive deep into the content. Most of the questions were based around resources teachers use. I believe this questions were brought up a lot because when teachers are implementing a flipped class, there needs to be clear organization and it can be intimidating to start. Having successful teachers share their resources is a great way to encourage other teachers to try a flipped classroom.

I really enjoyed this Twitter chat and I will be watching them, and eventually participating in them, in the future. I think they are a great way to get connected with other educators. When I was deciding which one to watch this week, I had a hard time picking because a lot of them sounded interesting. As a future educator, I will be watching these chats more frequently because it can help me connect with other educators and also provide me with great resources.

Here are the 10 people I decided to follow:

Dr. Justin Tarte @justintarte I decided to follow him because when I read his bio, I noticed that he was a positive family man. When scrolling through his timeline, I saw a lot of positive quotes and questions in his tweets.

Sir Ken Robinson @SirKenRobinson Although he does not have much information on his bio, I did notice that he had a picture of a book he wrote called, "Creative Schools". When I saw this, I wanted to learn more about him and what he stands for.

Rick Wormeli @rickwormeli2 I chose to follow him because I was seeing some retweets from other education people from his account. On his account, I noticed he adds a lot of graphics to his tweets which makes for a fun, educational, read.

Heartland AEA @HeartlandAEA I chose to follow Heartland because I did a technology practicum with one of the tech consultants there and learned so much. Their Twitter is ran by a lot of technology people so there are a lot of good resources and tips.

Amy Mascott @teachmama  The first thing I noticed about her was that she has a lot of followers and she follows a lot of people. This made me want to follow her because I can tell she is actively collecting ideas from other people as well. She followed me back! 

Be Kind People Project @BeKindPpl This one is a different kind of educational Twitter. This is all about how to promote kindness and community in and out of the classroom. My aunt runs this Twitter and I love all the inspirational Tweets she puts. This is a good one for all educators!

WeAreTeachers @WeAreTeachers I followed this one because I have heard a lot about it. This is a very popular educational Twitter that has a lot of contributors. I have gotten a lot of tips and resources from this account.

Bevin Reinen @TeachTrainLove I found this teacher through her blog. She posts a lot of fun videos with some great ideas.

Kathy Schrock @kathyschrock I chose to follow her because she is an educational technologist. She tweets about great technology resources.

Mark Brumly @markbrumley I chose to follow him because in his bio he states he is committed to 21st century learners and teachers. This really caught my attention and I wanted to see what useful stuff he has to post.

One tip I would give to teachers entering the Twitter world is to follow people who you agree with, but also follow a few people who may have different views than you. I believe this can be very beneficial to be exposed to other viewpoints. Along this line, another tip I would have is to follow people who have tips and resources to offer. Twitter is a great place to connect to other educators and share ideas. One last tip I would say is to have your own voice in your tweets. Don't be afraid to share your own personal ideas. Everyone has something to offer!

Overall, this week I learned a lot about Twitter. Before this, I was aware of what Twitter chats are, but I was not using them. Now that I have watched one, I understand these chats are places for teachers to communicate and connect. These chats are a great way to share resources and just connect to each other. I also learn about new people to follow this week. I evaluated my own Twitter and followed more educational people. My plan is to be more involved in Twitter chats and keep expanding my pool of educators to follow.

Just TACKK It!

What is Tackk?

Tackk is a website that allows people to create and share pages on the internet. People can be as creative as the want and they can include pictures, charts, graphs, text, etc. Along with creating, people can collaborate and communicate with other users. This is an awesome way for students to share research they have done or learned about. They can also collaborate and give feedback to one another and the teacher can give feedback as well. Tackk is a web based tool and is also an app for Android and Apple devices.

Website   Apple Store   Android

How to use Tackk!

Tackk is a fairly simple tool to use. The first step in using Tackk is creating an account. The nice thing about this process is you can connect it to your Google account, Twitter, or Facebook. This makes signup easy and painless! Now it is time to start creating. The first step in the creation process is choosing the type of Tackk you want to make. Some choices are, school project, blank canvas, blog, etc. There are also templates for certain uses that you can choose as a starting point and edit. Once this is selected, the fun begins. At this point, you are able to add text, pictures, and charts. This is where the students are able to be as creative as they want. On the side, there is a bar where they can change font and color. Also, there is a bar below the Tackk that has different buttons to add video, pictures, audio, and other options. Depending on what the assignment is, this is where students will put their information to share. When the Tackk is completed, there is a big green button that says "Publish Tackk" this is where students will make their Tackk public. 

When students have published their Tackk, they can explore other people's Tackks, or their own classmates Tackks. Also, when they are exploring other people's creations, they can add their input on the comments section. The comments sections serves are a conversation stream because all of the comments are posted in the same place. This is where students can create awesome discussions! 

Classroom Ideas

One idea for the classroom is for a 4th grade lesson about writing informational pieces. Students could do their own research and present it using a Tackk. With this, students could add photos about their information. For example, if they were researching an event that happened, they could include a picture of the event and maybe a chart with some data about the event. This would be very engaging and a way for students to showcase their learning in a creative way. Another way to use this is a classroom would be in a 6th grade math class about solving real-world mathematical problems. Students could create their own problem on their Tackk and include information about how they would solve this. Students could add pictures of the problem, or even a video of them solving it. By using Tackk for this lesson, students would be able to use real world events in their math. 

SAMR

This tool fits multiple parts of the SAMR model. First, this tool fits augmentation. A way I can see this fitting is by the teacher using it to convey information. The teacher could create a newsletter for parents and send it out to them. Although this could be done without the tool, Tackk makes this more efficient because parents can comment on it and give feedback or ask questions in a continuous feed. It makes communication more efficient. By creating and publishing a project, students are able to use video, photo and text all in one place to show their learning. Since this is all in one place, the is modification. The task is being significantly modified because the students are creating their project online and contributing many aspects that the tool offers. Tackk can also fit redefinition. One way I see this fitting is by having students give feedback to their peers. On each of the students projects, students can leave questions, comments, and also answer each other. This can all be on one place for everyone to see. Also, along with this collaboration, students can look at other published Tackks and learn from other creators. Without this tool, students would not be able to give this efficient and real time feedback. 

Connected Educator

One of the biggest things I learned this week was how essential it is to become connected as an educator. Along with the blog pages, I read an interesting article on Edutopia called Ten Tips for Becoming a Connected Educator. This article was a great read and I got a lot of takeaways from it. The first tip on the page really stuck out to me and it was "Embrace Making Mistakes" I know personally, this is something I struggle with sometimes and I am sure other people can relate. When it comes to being connected, or anything dealing with technology, we can sometimes feel out of our element and that can be scary. Making mistakes is a great way to learn and grow! I have a personal Twitter and I think Twitter is a great way to connect with other educators. One of the tips was to follow people who think the same as you and also people who don't. I really want to evaluate the people I follow on Twitter and follow more pages that can benefit me as an educator. I really like this tip because although following people who may have different view points as you seems strange, it can really help you grow as a person and maybe reevaluate your thinking or why you believe a certain way. It is important for us to see different view points and also expose our students to this.

Social media is an awesome connection tool if used correctly. I think it is really important to use social media tools like blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc, because it is a way for educators to collaborate and share ideas. For students, a school social media could be beneficial in connecting with other students or seeing what other classes are working on. Overall, social media is a great way to collaborate and communicate with a wide variety of people.

Personally, I am connected, but maybe not in the way I should be. I do have Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and a class blog, but I am not following the right people. In the near future I want to reevaluate who I am following and follow people in the education world. For me, this will be the first step of connecting with other educators.

Speed Geeking

I had a great experience exploring and learning about new technology that is available for the classroom. There were so many different resources ranging from engineering tools to websites. Some of them I have used and some of them were brand new to me. It was really eye opening for me to see all of the technology that students can use for educational purposes. It also made me excited to start my digital classroom!

In category A, we looked at different tools like sphero and the osmo. My favorite tool in this category was the osmo letters. In a primary classroom, this would be an awesome app and tool to use for learning letters and sound recognition. At first, I was a little hesitant about this tool because the pictures could be confusing, but then I found out you can upload your own pictures which would help a lot. My least favorite tool in this category was the Smart Kapp board. Although this is a good concept, I believe the struggles we experienced with it outweigh the pros of it. I believe the same thing could be accomplished if a student took a picture of the board.

The next category I explored was devises such as iPads and computers. My favorite tool in this category was the iPad or the iPad mini. iPads can do so much in the classroom. There are apps, both free and paid, for any subject you can think of. Also, iPads are easy to use at any level. Another great thing about iPads are they are small enough to be transported easily if needed. On the other hand, my least favorite tool in this category was the iPad Pro. Although they can do everything the smaller iPads do, they are way more expensive and also larger so they are not very portable. I do not think they are ideal in a classroom setting.

The third category I explored was tools to be used for coding and engineering. My favorite tool in this category was the Squishy Circuit. I think it is a great concept to use PlayDoh as a conductor. It can get the students involved in exploration as well. My least favorite in this category was the BB8 Bot. Although it looked really neat, I am unsure how I would use it in the classroom.

Category D also had tools for programming. My favorite in this category was the Makey Makey. I think this is an awesome tool! Students can get so creative with it and turn every day items into a piano or other things. Although I did not have long to look at this tool, there is so much that can be done with it. My least favorite in this category was the Snap Circuit, but this could simply be because I did not have a lot of time to look at it and I would need to do more research.

The last category was websites. My favorite website was Padlet. I love this website because it allows students to safely collaborate on a community board. It is easy to use and students can make comments that everyone can see. From the websites I looked at, I did not have a least favorite. I believe they were all good.

The one tool I would love to have in my classroom is the Makey Makey. I think this is an awesome for student to explore and be creative with their learning. This tool is very versatile and can be used in multiple different ways. One tool I do not believe I will be incorporating into my classroom is a Smart Kapp board. I think there are other ways to get information to students that are more reliable and easier to use.